Are You What You Wanted To Be When You Grew Up?

Thank you to Melissa Dahl at the Science of Us for reminding me that when I was little my plan was to be a ballerina when I grew up. LOL. I can only assume this was because I didn’t know the word “blogger” yet.

If you are also an adult who actually didn’t turn out to be a veterinarian/astronaut/marine biologist the way you dreamed about when were a kid, well join the club. Most people — 94% according to a longitudinal study published in the journal Social Forces — do not end up in the job they wanted when they were eight years old.

Most of the adults didn’t wind up doing the jobs they’d dreamed about as children, but the researchers found that the kids who’d aspired to gender-typical careers — boys who wanted to be mechanics and girls who wanted to be nurses, for example — were more likely to be doing those jobs as an adult, no doubt because there were fewer barriers to overcome.

Huh. Maybe also the gender-typical jobs are more attainable / needed by society, which is why they are in the Richard Scarry books. We’re always going to need nurses and teachers and policemen. I mean, until the Singularity of course.

As for me, as I grew up a bit my career plans got more realistic: high school teacher, screenwriter, POET. Did anyone want to be a project manager when they grew up? Middle manager? Direct marketer? I wonder what kids grow up wanting to be these days, aside from famous.